If it had to perish twice
by InternetAddiction
Summary: Set after Arthur has been reincarnated. Can be read as either gen or merthur depending on how you wish to see it.


It was silly really, the little things he now noticed as they stood looking out over the city spread beneath them: how the water flowed through the mountains in the distance, the way the people had taken to each other with such joy and interacted so harmoniously. Nothing is perfect. Even if it were considered so by some there would always be someone to find fault. But what they were looking at now; the kingdom they had brought together. Neither man could be more proud.

"Look at it all Merlin, everything we've accomplished in this life and the last. If it had to perish twice, I'm glad that this was the outcome, it's everything I dreamed of but never thought possible." The awe in Arthur's voice as he finally took the opportunity to let it all sink in was unmistakeable.

"I always knew you would do it" His partner replied seriously. "…even if it did take a thousand years in the end"

"You know I may not say it often, but I couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh I know" and there was the cheekiness Arthur remembered so vividly.

"You! You!" The king spluttered in embarrassed outrage "Here I am trying to be nice and you go and ruin it by saying that!"

Although he could try all he liked to stop it, the moment their eyes met they both spewed into uncontrollable laughter. The easiness between them was just so natural and the banter the two had always shared was proof of the bond they had forged against all odds. The journey that had brought them to where they now stood was laden with disaster, death and defeat. Looking back on it Merlin and Arthur both knew that they wouldn't change anything though, for it had been those very trials that had made them into the men they were now and both couldn't feel any more grateful for the gift the other was to their own heart and soul.

-Eighteen months previous-

Camelot was in shambles. Buildings were burning like the very ground was a furnace. Countrymen screamed as they were run through with their own blades. Magic had risen once again in an uprising to put all others to shame as King Uther announced his plan to execute each person, noble or peasant, man or woman, who dared to question his judgement. The news of his apparently traitorous wife and council had led to a massacre that exposed the rotten roots of Camelot's being. No-one was safe. Not even Arthur, crowned Prince and heir to the throne was certain of what to do. After all, everything he had ever known had just been torn down alongside his kingdom. The sudden and unexpected pain that shot through him as his knights took action was enough to knock him down and as the last of his consciousness faded his final thought was of the boy from his dreams, the one who had haunted him for years without so much as a name.

Leon and the rest of the knights were tearing themselves apart over having to do this to their prince, however they knew that as strong-headed as he was, Arthur would never have been able to leave Camelot of his own accord. Reaching the forest on the outskirts of the castle grounds, they risked one glance back before once again hoisting the unconscious form of their leader up and moving forward into the vegetation surrounding them.

Numerous hours of travelling later, the Prince of the fallen kingdom started stirring. His eyes skidded around beneath his eyelids as he attempted to figure out what had occurred between the time he was attacked and then. It was the lack of sulphur in the air and gentle whispers of his knights that encouraged hope to bloom in his heart as he briefly managed to convince himself that it had all been a dream; that Camelot hadn't been destroyed. All that shattered when he eventually opened his eyes to the sight of his men, bloodied and tired in the forest. The harsh breath that escaped his lunges alerted the others to his awareness causing them to rush to his side, explanations positively falling from their lips in their exhaustion. Arthur's mind was that of a fighter and strategist, automatically focusing on the one voice he recognised but at the same moment did not know. His head snapped around with an audible crack as his eyes met those of the man from his dream. The man without a name. "Who are you? I know you but…"

"But you don't remember me?" the lightness of the man's tone was belied by the deep sadness etched in his eyes, which in turn contrasted with the beaming smile that had spread across his face as Arthur acknowledged him. "My name is Merlin, Arthur. I'm Merlin"

And just like that it was as if everything shifted in his mind. Memories that had been lost to him before resurfaced like they had never been gone. Memories of another life, a thousand years earlier suddenly there, in his head and those of his companions. A life of legend. A legend that his father had tried to recreate in his search for power but had somehow only succeeded at destroying all that made it renowned.

"Merlin. How? Why? What on earth is going on?"

"Well Sire, the short version is that after you, you died for the first time, Camelot was weak, I tried so, so hard to save it but with you gone… I just didn't have anything left to give. I've waited a thousand years for your return. Its time Arthur. It's time for Albion to become real instead of just another fable."


End file.
